Ealing Council has approved a scheme by Jestico + Whiles and conservation architects Julian Harrap Architects to transform John Soane’s Pitzhanger Manor House and the surrounding 12-hectare Walpole Park

The grade I-listed 1768 manor will be fully restored with the 1939 library building converted into a gallery. A new café will be built in Soane’s original kitchen garden.

The project, which is also being worked on by Ralph Appelbaum Associates, landscape architect J & L Gibbons and engineers Ellis & Moore and King Shaw, has support from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF). A full grant application is expected to be determined later this year.

The park scheme has been separately funded by HLF Parks for People and will be completed this summer.

Jestico + Whiles’ director Heinz Richardson said: ‘The expert team has worked together closely on a design that will sensitively restore and reveal Soane’s masterpiece, ensuring its future as a world-class museum and cultural venue for West London.’

The architect’s view

‘Pitzhanger Manor was originally built in 1768 by Soane’s former employer, George Dance the Younger. Soane purchased the 28-acre estate in 1800 and set about redesigning the house and gardens around the notion of a ‘country idyll’. The Jestico + Whiles team proposals will revive the estate as a showcase for Soane’s idiosyncratic architectural style.

‘The Manor will be restored to its former glory providing an impression of Soane’s work in the early nineteenth century. The former Library building from 1939 will be converted into a Gallery with improved visitor facilities and a new café will be constructed in Soane’s original kitchen garden.‘Walpole Park will also include the new Rickyard education centre. Scheduled for completion in April 2014, the building will provide a learning space for youth and community groups, schools, families and adults to meet, run a range of activities and host events. The centre will also house the park’s new visitor facilities, including a café and public toilets.’

Previous story (AJ 30.07.09)

Soane’s Pitzhanger Manor masterpiece to be transformed

Jestico + Whiles has been selected to remodel Sir John Soane’s Pitzhanger Manor

The practice has been successful in its bid to remodel Sir John Soane’s Pitzhanger Manor and Walpole Park in the London Borough of Ealing. This a Grade-I-listed building and the new design will aim to ‘sensitively restore and transform the Manor into a world-class museum’.

Jestico + Whiles was selected, following a two-stage tender and interview process. Client Ealing Borough Council said it was impressed by the team’s past experience and integrated approach to the building, landscape and interpretation design.

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